THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE (2010)

Greetings again from the darkness. Well, it’s the best kind of Nic Cage role … very little dialogue and plenty of scenes with him not included. Lots of special effects. Has some similarities to movies like National Treasure(another Jon Turtletaub directorial effort) and The Shadow. Can you tell I am struggling to find the positives?

The basic story involves Merlin’s three assistants (Balthazar, Horvath and Veronica) and their struggles after Merlin is killed by the evilest of all evil, Morganna (Alice Krige). Of course, that murder happened hundreds of years ago and poor Balthazar has been on a global search for the only sorcerer’s apprentice who can save the world in case Morganna is released.

Since Veronica (Monica Bellucci) sacrificed herself to capture Morganna, it is really important to Balthazar (Cage) that he find this apprentice who can also help revive Veronica, who is his one true love. The bad guy is Horvath (played well by Alfred Molina). He is on a mission to release Morganna so she can destroy the world and choose him as her assistant. Yeah, I know, lots of details that don’t really matter.

The reluctant apprentice is played by Jay Baruchel. Or someone playing Jay Baruchel. Can’t really tell since every role he takes is EXACTLY the same character. At least here he plays a physics prodigy. Yeah, right.

Next to Molina, the most fun is had when Toby Kebbell (RocknRolla) is on screen. He is a real hoot and these two play well off each other. The other attempt at humor is a weak homage to the Disney classic Fantasia, replete with moving mops, etc. No surprise, the sequence comes up well short of the original and Baruchel just doesn’t have the physical skills to pull it off.

I assume this movie is aimed at 10 year olds and I am just not sure they will understand the story, though I feel confident the big special effects and cool car chase will be enough for a few oohs and ahhs. Those over 10 … enter at your own risk.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 15th, 2010 at 8:57 pm and is filed under Comedy, Fantasy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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